RedHeaded Retribution
by ShellGrad
Summary: 3 years later…CeCe and Rocky are 17 and Ty is 19. Ty has been in New York trying to make it as a rapper. He has had some mild success and let it get to his head but comes back to visit only to have a certain red-head bring him back to down Earth.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This is my first fanfic. So, if it sucks, I apologize. Just learning how to do all of this. Not sure when I'll finish this but I hope to finish it at some point because I hate it when authors leave the audience hanging. I'm in grad school and I'm supposed to be writing a research paper right now but I wrote this instead. :) The idea was just stuck in my head so I had to get it out. **

_Setting: 3 years later…CeCe and Rocky are 17 and Ty is 19. Ty has been in New York trying to make it as a rapper. He has had some mild success and let it get to his head but comes back to visit only to have a certain red-head bring him back to down Earth._

-At school-

"Hey Rocky," CeCe greets her friend who's frantically throwing books into her locker. "What's up?" she asked with a confused look on her face.

"Oh, hey!" Rocky replies as if just noticing her for the first time. "Ty's plane landed during last period so he should be home now. Tell Gary I'm sorry I can't make it to practice this afternoon."

"No problem," CeCe says while handing Rocky's bookbag to her. "You need this time with your brother."

Rocky turned to her friend. "You know, maybe you should stop by later. You and Ty used to get along pretty well."

CeCe shrugged, "Eh, maybe I will."

Rocky didn't believe her but dropped it, not wanting to have a repeat of a previous argument that they had just gotten over. She knew that her brother had gotten a bit big-headed since he started to gain some fame in New York as a rapper. But that didn't keep her from defending him, even from the attacks-however truthful-of her best friend.

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><p>-Later that day, at the Blue's apartment-<p>

CeCe walked in as she always did, without knocking. "Hey, Rocky, Gary asked me to give you the tapes so you can pick up the steps and I also thought maybe we could practice later," she said without ever looking up from the tapes in her hands. "It's funny. You should pause it at 3 minutes and totally look at the expression on Gunter's face!" She laughed. "It's…hilarious" she said the last word after a brief pause when she finally looked up at the three Blues sitting around the kitchen table all staring at her. Mrs. Blue sat there with a patient and slightly strained smile on her face. Rocky was smiling though she was clearly uncomfortable with the obvious tension in the room. Ty sat there in his over-the-top expensive outfit staring at CeCe as if she was a figment of his imagination.

"Oh, hey Ty. I heard you were coming in. Well, Rocky, I'll just leave these here for you," she said as she set the tapes on the table. "and I'll just let you finish catching up. Rocky, just let me know when you want to practice. Nice to see you again, Mama Blue. Well, I gotta go pick up Flynn from Henry's." She walked out of the apartment just as calmly and suddenly as she'd come in.

Ty seemed to finally find his words in the silence that followed CeCe's departure. "Woah." He continued to stare at the place CeCe was standing as Rocky looked at him, puzzled. "Little CeCe isn't so little anymore." Rocky just rolled her eyes and looked away.

**If anyone seems a little out of character - particularly CeCe - just know that they are older and personalities change a little bit as people get older. They are still the same people as they are in the show but CeCe has come to acknowledge that some things aren't worth fighting about (Ty) with Rocky and CeCe is keeping her distance from Ty to avoid an argument that she deems pointless since she doesn't think he'll change. Not sure if we'll ever see Ty's point of view in this story. Stay tuned to find out :) Sorry it's kinda short. I'll try for longer chapters later.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Ty," Rocky said, trying to get his attention, "stop drooling."

Ty looked up as if he just realized where he was. "I'm gonna go to my room," he said, dazed.

Mrs. Blue stood up. "Sure, honey, you must be tired from the flight."

"Yeah," Ty said as he walked to his room, "tired. It was a long flight."

Rocky sat by herself at the table as her mom started cleaning up from their earlier dinner and Ty walked to his room. "Ok, what just happened?"

-Walking back to the apartment building after school the next day-

CeCe rolled her eyes as she noticed Ty outside the apartment building with a crowd of girls around him, signing autographs. Rocky sighed. As they came closer to the crowd blacking the steps, Ty stepped away and greeted the two girls. "Hey Rocky," he said with a smile. "Hey CeCe," he said while not so subtly checking her out.

"Hey," Rocky replied tiredly and walked up the steps through the quickly disappearing crowd.

"Hey," CeCe said, barely glancing at him as she moved to follow Rocky.

Ty reached out and loosely grabbed her arm. There was slight desperation in his touch and in his eyes that CeCe couldn't quite place. "How have you been?" CeCe looked confused. "We haven't talked in so long."

CeCe blanked her expression and sighed as she slowly pulled her arm back and his fell to his side. "I've been busy."

Ty looked down for a moment. "Right, yeah, with Shake It Up Chicago. How's that going, by the way?"

"Good." They both nodded and were quiet for a moment. "Tiring. We actually just got back from practice and we have to record in the morning so…" She let the sentence hang for a moment as they both stood there awkwardly. "I should go take a shower." She went up the stairs, leaving Ty alone.

Ty sighed and resigned himself to sitting on the steps in front of the building…at least for a while. He would get CeCe to talk to him. But, he would give the space she needed for now. After all, he knew how much dancing could take out of you, especially when you put your whole heart in it like CeCe always had. Maybe it would have exhausted her enough to not have the energy to push him away and avoid him yet again.


	3. Chapter 3

CeCe stepped out of the steamy shower. The hot water was successful in easing her tired muscles but did nothing to get rid of her thoughts of the guy she left standing alone twice now with no explanations. But, how do you tell someone you used to care about that you don't like the person they've become? She shook her head to free her of those thoughts as she changed into baggy pajama bottoms and a tight tank top. It was no good to dwell on conversations that would never happen. Sure, someone needed to take Ty down a peg but that wasn't her place. Her friendship with Rocky meant too much for her to put her nose in his business. If Rocky was happy living in defensive denial, she wasn't going to fight her best friend on that one.

She folded her towel, put it on the rack, and walked toward the kitchen for a snack. Her mom was working for the night and Flynn was having a sleepover at a friend's. **(AN: I don't dislike Flynn. I just don't put him in the story much because I want to do him justice when I do put him in and I'm just not sure how to do that yet.)** So dinner consisted of whatever she wanted at the moment, which just happened to be the pint of Ben & Jerry's her mom didn't think they knew about. She plopped down on the couch with ice cream and spoon in hand when her bliss was interrupted by a knock at the door. She groaned but got off the couch, nevertheless, and opened the door.

"Ty?" CeCe cocked her head to the side and scrunched her eyebrows together.

The man in question smiled a bit sheepishly back at her. "Hey, can we talk?"

Her eyebrows nearly met her hairline at such a simple statement. "Uh, sure."

They stood there awkwardly for a moment. Ty cleared his throat. "Well, can I come in?"

CeCe snapped back to reality. "Oh, right, yeah." She stepped aside to let him in. "Come on in."

"Thanks." He stepped in and looked around the living room. Not much had changed since he last saw it.

CeCe moved back to the couch. "So, what's up?" She looked up at him, waiting patiently for him to answer.

He wondered how she could look so calm when he was fighting an internal battle with so many sides that he couldn't keep track of what was going on. "I missed you."

She sighed. "Ty, let's not get into this."

"Why?" She couldn't quite understand why his tone was so challenging.

"Because Rocky is my best friend."

"Yeah, and she's my sister. What's that got to do with anything?"

"Excuse me? You really think _you_ have the right to be mad at _me_?" She said, standing up from the couch.

"Well, yeah, considering I came here for answers and you're not giving them to me." He held his stance, anger and irritation clear in his voice.

"And what makes you think you deserve answers?" She yelled, stepping closer to him. "See, that's your problem. You, Ty Blue, are not entitled to everything you want. I don't know what your big time managers and floozies have been filling your head with but you can't always get what you want." She finished almost pressed up against him and poking him in the chest.

Ty took a couple of deep breaths. He had no idea what was going on now and the fiery redhead in front of him was standing way too close for him to focus but he couldn't bring himself to step back. "How does this relate to Rocky again?" he asked a bit breathlessly, looking down at her.

If she realized how he was feeling, she gave no indication. "Because just got back on solid ground after fighting over you and I will _not_ have her mad at me just because you had to go up to New York, become some big shot, and turn into some selfish prick. If she wants to think you're still the same sweet Ty that we knew and loved, then let her live in denial. I know the truth. You are _not _the Ty I knew. I don't know where that guy is. When you find him, call me. And don't you dare breathe a word of this to Rocky because she's still defending you to everyone, you jerk. You probably don't even appreciate it and you _certainly_ don't deserve it." She finished with a huff and stood back, arms crossed, satisfied that she'd made her point.

Ty nodded and stepped forward. "Okay, I deserved that."

She scrunched up her face and stepped back a little. "You-you did?" She cleared her throat and resumed her previous position. "I mean, of course you did. I'm not going to spare your feelings, Ty, because I'm not sure who this knew Ty even is. But I do know that he isn't the person I thought I knew." She frowned.

He smiled his brilliant smile at her and stepped forward again. "You always did know how to tell it like it is." CeCe scrunched up her face again. What was he doing? Yeah, she was right. But why was he admitting it? "I guess I just needed to hear it from someone." He reached out and fingered one of her red curls. "Someone who would make me face up to it and pay for the mistakes I've made." He stepped even closer. "Guess that makes you my little red-headed retribution, huh?" He smirked and tucked the strand he'd been playing with behind her ear. "I need someone to keep me grounded, Cecelia. Somehow I think you'll always be able to do that." He leaned in so that he was inches from her lips. "I'd really love to kiss you right now. But I'm afraid there are laws against that and I don't think your mom would hesitate to put me in cuffs." They both laughed softly.

She looked into his eyes and finally saw the real Ty Blue staring back at her. She reached up and took off his ridiculous hat. "My birthday is in a couple of months." She smiled. "And find that old hat of yours. This one is so not you."

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><p><strong>So, what do you guys think? Should I leave it there? or do an epilogue?<strong>


	4. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: Completely forgotten in the other chapters so to cover the whole story: if I owned it, grad school would be (maybe) half as stressful.**

**Alas, the epilogue that few have asked for but hopefully more have been awaiting. So, without further adieu...**

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><p><em>Epilogue<em>

"CeCe it's not that big of a deal," Rocky tried to comfort her as the trudged their way to the Jones' apartment door.

"It_ is_ a big deal Rocky," CeCe said as she reached for the doorknob. "How would you feel if Deuce wasn't there to see you walk across the stage all because he was with a bunch of fan girls?"

She opened the door and before Rocky could retort, they were both shocked into silence as people jumped out from everywhere yelling "SURPRISE!"

Ty made his way to his shell-shocked girlfriend and sister with his brilliant smile in place. He managed to reach out and stroke Rocky's cheek with a soft "congratulations" before moving CeCe's tassle out of the way and planting a gentle kiss on her lips in front of everyone. He pulled a way to look her in the eyes. "Hey, I'm sorry I couldn't make it there today but someone had to be here to set up this amazing surprise for you." He smiled as he saw the light in her eyes.

"It's beautiful. Having you here is the best surprise of all. I thought you were supposed to be at an autograph signing right now." She said as she snaked her arms around his waist, completely forgetting everyone else in the room.

He rubbed comfortingly up and down her back against the slick graduation gown. "Which is why I'm not sorry I didn't tell you I was coming. I'd do anything to see that look on your face."

They smiled softly at each other before their moment was ruined. "Alright! That's enough. You've somehow convinced my sister to move in with you all the way in New York, the least you can do is let me hug her while I've still got the chance." Flynn demanded as he made his way toward his sister.

Ty chuckled and stepped back. "Sorry, little man." CeCe gave a watery smile and laugh as she hugged her –not so little- brother. She spent the rest of the party making her way through the guests and making sure to hug her Mom, Gary, the dancers from the show, and Flynn again.

As the night wound down, the guests left in small groups. Flynn left for a date and Mrs. Jones had to go into work for an emergency. Mr. and Mrs. Blue had long ago retreated to their apartment one floor up, leaving the original four friends (and double couple) sitting on the couch watching a movie. CeCe and Rocky sat in the middle holding hands while Ty had his arm around CeCe and Deuce had his arm around Rocky. They enjoyed the quiet, down-to-Earth moment since they knew all too soon it would be over and all four of them would be headed to New York in a couple of days to chase after their dreams. Of course, since one of them was already living his dream as a rapper, he had more important things on his mind as he discreetly patted the box in his pocket. _In time_, he thought as he smiled slyly to himself, _in time_.

CeCe looked up at Ty and scrunched her eyebrows together slightly. "What?" she asked quietly.

He smiled softly and kissed her hair. "Nothing, sweetie." She mentally shrugged it off and sank deeper into his hold without letting go of her best friend's hand.

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><p><strong>Hopefully you didn't think that was too mean. I left the possibility for a sequel open just in case I wanted to do one but I don't currently have any plans for one. This story got plenty of hits but not many reviews so hopefully it wasn't too bad.<strong>


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